The role of debt in the capital structure of companies as a value driver (Modigliani and Miller, 1963; Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Ross, 1977) as well as in increasing the strategic agility of companies as can be concluded from O'Brien (2003), Kochhart and Hitt (1998), Barton and Gordon (1987) and Sandberg, Lewellen, and Stanley (1987), in general, is contentious given the potential risk of financial distress introduced by it. This study aims to assess whether the introduction of debt, and increase in financial leverage would have any impact on the firm value of short-term insurance companies given the nature of the business. Tobin’s Q (Staking and Babel, 1995), the ratio of the market value of a company to the liquidation value of the company’s assets is developed and used as a key proxy for the franchise value of an insurance company (O'Brien, 2003; DaDalt, Donaldson, and Garner, 2003; Keeley, 1990). Multiple regression analyses is then performed on a sample of listed short-term insurers over an 11 year period to assess the relationship between their financial leverage, franchise value and other key ratios used to determine the value of insurance companies (ROE and underwriting return), with risk being implicit in the franchise value variable. The results show no causal relationship between financial leverage and franchise value or risk which would have been represented by a declining Q. Insurance leverage however is found to be a good predictor of Q. The implication is that short-term insurance companies could borrow money without destroying much value in the short run. The companies could use the borrowed money to fund strategic projects that could add value in the long run. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Financial Condition Reporting (FCR), which is set to be implemented in 2008, promises some of the most significant changes to solvency regulation in the history of the short-term insurance industry in South Africa.The purpose of this study was to assess the perceived impact that this new regulation will have on the short-term insurance industry and to identify the main challenges for implementing FCR requirements.The Delphi technique was used to solicit expert opinion and consensus on the key issues facing the short-term insurance industry in the transition to FCR.The survey indicates that whilst there are several challenges in moving to a more rigorous regulatory environment, that the benefits of a principle based, internationally harmonised and risk sensitive approach to capital requirements, outweigh the efforts of implementing such a system. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Thesis--Lausanne. / Bibliography, p. v-ix.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Lausanne.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Erlangen, 1912. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-71).

Thesis (PhD)(Actuarial Science) -- University of Pretoria, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Univ., Diss.--Frankfurt (Main), 1994.

Dissertation (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2007. / Title from title screen (site viewed July 12, 2007). PDF text: iv, 153 p. : ill. UMI publication number: AAT 3252439. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

The aim of the research is the statistical modelling of parametric survival distributions of grouped survival data of long- and shortterm policies in the insurance industry, by means of a method of maximum likelihood estimation subject to constraints. This methodology leads to explicit expressions for the estimates of the parameters, as well as for approximated variances and covariances of the estimates, which gives exact maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters. This makes direct extension to more complex designs feasible. The statistical modelling offers parametric models for survival distributions, in contrast with non-parametric models that are used commonly in the actuarial profession. When the parametric models provide a good fit to data, they tend to give more precise estimates of the quantities of interest such as odds ratios, hazard ratios or median lifetimes. These estimates form the statistical foundation for scientific decisionmaking with respect to actuarial design, maintenance and marketing of insurance policies. Although the methodology in this thesis is developed specifically for the insurance industry, it may be applied in the normal context of research and scientific decision making, that includes for example survival distributions for the medical, biological, engineering, econometric and sociological sciences. / Dissertation (PhD (Mathematical Statistics))--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Mathematics and Applied Mathematics / unrestricted